I got ahold of new Syracuse defenseman Nate Guenin on Tuesday night, hours after his trade from Columbus/Springfield to Anaheim/Syracuse in exchange for center Trevor Smith.

I've heard mostly good things about him, especially his character the way he interacts with teammates and fans and blocks shots (the next Dan Smith?).

I asked Guenin to describe his style of play:

"I'm going to compete every night. I like to take the body. I like to block shots.''

Guenin is good friends with Crunch forward Patrick Maroon and ex-Crunch defenseman Danny Syvret from their time together on the Phantoms. And, of course, on Springfield, he knows several ex-Crunchers. He said he's been talking to Tom Sestito and Grant Clitsome to get the scouting report on Syracuse.

"They said I'm going to a good spot,'' he said. "The fans are really good fans. They enjoyed the city. There's quite a bit of stuff to do.''

On the trade itself: " I wasn't expecting to get moved at all. It's part of the business. You expect the unexpected when you play this game. I'm looking forward to the new opportunity with Anaheim.''

Crunch assistant GM Bob Ferguson on the deal:

"The reason the deal was done was with the trading of (Brett) Festerling it left us without any depth defensmen for Anaheim. He's a good, experienced, defenseman who has NHL experience. He's a big guy (6-2, 210), stays at home, takes care of his own end first, which is what we need.

"He (Smith) has been the ultimate player for us, a good leader. We all know that to get good players, you have to give up good players. To get what we needed we have to give up some quality.''

Smith, the Crunch's leading scorer, was traded after scoring four goals in his last game for the team, Sunday at Albany. Ferguson conceded the timing of Smith's trading, from that standpoint, was "awkward.''

My two cents, which probably isn't even worth that much:

1. It's amazing to me how many transactions, this one included, are almost as much news to Holick, Ferguson and the Crunch front office, as they are to me. That's not to say it's good or bad. But it's clear that virtually none of the shots are being called by the Ducks on-site personnel, who, frankly, are often in the dark about them until the last second.

I mean, as late as this afternoon I was setting up an interview with Smith for tomorrow. And I think he was on On the Block late in the afternoon. Then, poof, he's gone, and Ferguson and the coaching staff are scrambling to get the details, just like me. Interesting, considering that the evaluations of the jobs done by Holick and Ferguson depends upon what's happening here.

2. Guenin, by all accounts, is a quality defensive defenseman and a good guy. Fair enough. The team needs that. Maybe he can help take some pressure off the goalies and make them better.

Smith was the team's leading scorer and was on a hot streak. The team also still needs lots of offense, such as the type he provided.

The point is that the Ducks' attitude in the off-season was, we know what we're doing and if we don't, we'll fix it. As I accurately pointed out in the summer, their approach toward minor-league free agency was OK, but nothing spectacular. There were a few holes left unfilled, apparent right from the start (goalie, finisher, another pp QB, to name three).

It is clear now that the team over-valued some of its depth in the minors and also a couple of players in on the big club, and was too slow in reacting to the loss of projected Crunch sniper Jason Jaffray. I mean, there's no disputing this, right? Sports is a bottom-line business. You can't argue with the meaning of Syracuse's pitiful start, too many nights of lack of effort and youthful inconsistency and the billion moves made by Anaheim since, can you? If all was good from the start, as Anaheim claimed it would be, then it would have been quiet, smooth sailing so far, right?

The Ducks' willingness to make moves is a huge plus. As I've also pointed out, though, the problem with reacting instead of being pro-active is that making moves during the season creates a zero sum game. The available free agents are seldom as good as the ones you could have had in the summer, and, naturally, in a trade you are giving up something to get something.

So, you get a Chaput, Maroon, Paetsch, Guenin, etc. But you give up a Bickel and a Festerling and a Smith and a Syvret (wouldn't he look good on the point now?). Yes, the prospects are coming through big time and the Ducks' reputation for finding young talent looks valid. But if you don't swing and miss on some depth guys up top, maybe Beleskey and Bonino and Sexton and McMillan spend just a few more games here. Not the whole season, they don't deserve that. Just a little more time to help keep the Crunch afloat. Yes, JP and Timo have looked great at times, and then they've also looked lost, too. I mean, these are all things we saw coming, right?

Anyway, Anaheim has the rings, and the self-confidence to go with it. And that's cool, perhaps everything is about to turn around here, and this is the start. The Crunch has been bad. I've pointed that out. If they become good, I will point that out, too.

But the indisputable fact remains that the points lost while these foreseeable problems are addressed are never, ever coming back. The price of that is something we will find out in the next few months.